By Anna Stegeman (with Daniel Stegeman)  

The RMS Titanic, a British passenger liner, was the largest and most luxurious ship of its time. At nearly 900 feet long and promoted as “practically unsinkable,” the ship was outfitted with the finest sailing experience and the most advanced safety features for its era. 

The Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City on April 10, 1912, carrying over 2,200 passengers and crew. But late in the night of April 14, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg south of Newfoundland. The collision tore a long gash along the starboard side, compromising several watertight compartments. As the ship began to flood, it became clear she would sink, though many passengers and crew were initially unaware of the severity of the damage.

The evacuation was chaotic and hampered by a lack of lifeboats, poor communication, and a widespread belief that the Titanic could stay afloat. Many lifeboats left the ship half-empty. Over the next two hours and forty minutes, the Titanic slowly filled with water and split apart, sinking into the ocean in the early hours of April 15. Over 1,500 people died, making this tragedy one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. 

After such a horrific loss of life that could have been avoided if human pride had not prevailed, you would think that we would learn from this. While authorities did pass new regulations and ship safety improved, another tragic accident eerily similar to the Titanic occurred on January 13, 2012, almost 100 years later.

The Costa Concordia, part of the Costa Crociere cruising company, was the biggest vessel in Concordia’s fleet and an impressive cruise ship, outfitted with the latest cruising luxuries. She was supposed to take passengers on a seven day Italian cruise from Civitavecchia to Savona. But in the evening of January 13 Captain Fracesco Schettino deviated the ship’s path so that it would sail much closer to the island of Giglio than planned, performing what is known as a sail-by salute. This would give the passengers a much better view of the island and salute the sailors on land. The Concordia had done this many times before, even for the island of Giglio. The officers sailing the ship were instructed to stay 3000 feet away from Giglio’s shore, as this was the closest distance they could sail without risking running into rocks.

But as a result of miscommunication between Captain Francesco Schettino and the officer at the helm, the Costa made a much wider turn than it should have, bringing the ship a little over 300 feet away from the shore. Once the captain realized the error he ordered the ship to turn twenty degrees to the right, away from the island. Because of language difficulties the Indonesian helmsman steered the ship even closer to the shore towards an outcropping of rocks. The Captain quickly corrected the mistake but it was too late.

At 9:44 pm the ship collided with a rock that tore a gaping hole in the port side of the ship, almost 200 feet long. It breached several compartments, including the engine room. The electricity went out and passengers, who were eating at the time, began to panic. At 10:15 the crew assured the passengers that everything was fine and electricians were working to fix the problem.

The Italian Coast Guard contacted Costa, but Captain Schettino downplayed the damage, telling them it was only a blackout and that they had the situation under control. By that time, engineers informed Captain Schettino that many compartments had been breached, water had reached the electrical panel, and the ship was beginning to list. The crew continued to deny the passengers’ concerns, but as water flooded higher into the Costa the passengers hurried to deck 4 where the lifeboats were located.

Captain Schettino let the ship drift into shallow water so that if the ship continued to sink, it would rest on the seabed. But the pumps failed and water quickly overcame the ship. Schettino, however, never contacted anyone for help.

As conditions worsened, the passengers climbed into the lifeboats themselves. Finally, at 10:45 pm the bridge called for an “Abandon ship.” Over 4200 passengers and crew were aboard the ship. At 11:00 the ship listed on its side by more than 25 degrees. As midnight approached level 4 was flooded and it became impossible to launch lifeboats. 80 people remained aboard. They used a rope ladder to climb down the outside of the hull where rescue boats from the Coast Guard waited.

Captain Schettino, instead of staying on the ship throughout this whole rescue process, left the ship in a lifeboat. The Coast Guard commanded him to return to the ship to oversee evacuations. He never did.

The Costa rested on the seafloor rocks at about an 80 degree angle, with its starboard side completely submerged. By 6:00 am the next morning, the Coast Guard completed their rescue efforts and the rising sun revealed the horrifying extent of the disaster. The gaping hole where the Costa had collided with the seabed rose above the water. 

In this tragedy 32 people had been killed, mostly due to water rapidly rushing into the vessel. Some were found trapped in the elevators; others in the main dining room.

In the aftermath, as people tried to figure out who was responsible, five first officers were arrested and prosecuted. Most received sentences that were under two years.

What about Captain Schettino? He claimed that while people were evacuating the ship he had been coordinating rescue efforts and somehow slipped into a lifeboat. Suspicious, don’t you think? A video was later found that showed Captain Schettino waiting to board a lifeboat. Schettino stated that he wasn’t responsible for the death of the thirty-two people because they hadn’t been killed by the ship hitting the rocks, but by it sinking. He was charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning passengers. He was sentenced to sixteen years in jail.

Carnival, Costa’s owner, offered each of the surviving passengers $13,000 dollars. In total this disaster cost Carnival two billion dollars. Ironically, more people today know about the Titanic than know about Costa. 

These tragedies exemplifies Proverbs 16:18 perfectly, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Two ships, both thought of as unsinkable, sunk almost exactly one hundred years apart. The Titanic and the Costa were the best of their era, triumphs of engineering and supposedly the safest ships. Yet both sank and caused tragic loss of human life. From how the accident happened in the first place to the way the evacuation was conducted we see striking parallels between the stories. It illustrates a sobering picture of human nature. We create great things, yet act in ignorance and trust in man and machines far too much. 

1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.” The world will think we are foolish in believing in God and trusting in his wisdom, but this is the only true security. Otherwise, we will end up trusting in people and machines that, as both the Titanic and the Costa illustrated, will only ever fail us.

Christian, remember that “the arm of the flesh will fail you” (2 Chronicles 32:8). So trust in God who is sovereign over all, and in the power of his gospel. 

Check out this documentary to learn more.